Man of the Moment

'Garret the Good'

Former Taoiseach Dr. Garret Fitzgerald sadly passed away at age 85. It is a poignant but fitting tribute to his  efforts to progressing the peace process in Northern Ireland that in the week of his passing Queen Elizabeth II is visiting Ireland.

As Taoiseach he liberalised the contraception laws, but his attempt to introduce divorce was defeated in a referendum. He set up the New Ireland Forum in 1983 and signed the Anglo Irish Agreement with Margaret Thatcher in 1985 – the forerunner of the Downing Street Declaration of 1993 and subsequent ceasefires in the North.

He had the respect of people of all religions, nationalities, political parties.